the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism

The road not taken (Reply)

So, it was a big Dr. Who weekend for us. Netflix dropped off the bonus materials for S4 of NewWho and the last of S2 of Sarah Jane Adventures, plus we watched a Tomb of the Cybermen on Netflix as well.

The Traughton adventure was fun, but somewhat primitive. Pre-Time-Lord and all, so some oddities on that front. He's all for convincing others that the Cybermen must be destroyed because they're evil, but he does show dislike of guns.

Also: Cybermen should not have visible panty lines. I cannot stress this point highly enough.

Sarah Jane ended on a sour note for me. The Temptation of Sarah Jane seemed like a complete rehash of Father's Day from NewWho S1, right down to the resolution. Been there, done that.

Looking to see if there was much critical commentary on that, I ended up finding out about The K9 Missions, filming in Brisbane, OZ to air next year (in places other than the US). It's being developed by the guy who created K9 (Bob Baker, who wrote all of the Wallace and Grommit movies for Aardman), and there are rights issues with the BBC, so it's not Who Canon, but it's interesting, and "Who compatible".

I also came across a site that details a number of abandoned stories: all the things that didn't get as far as Shada: rejected stories, stories that got lost when the production team changed or a cast member decided to leave (or stay), stories where the author wouldn't change it, or didn't know how to write for Television, or ones that were just too expensive. Stories which, were they to have been made, would have changed some fundamental things.

Century House The Tenth Doctor appears on a modern reality TV show so he can hunt a ghost.

The Face of God One faces a giant face in space, which claims to be God, but isn't. Unlike the Trek people, who made this same story into Trek V, the Who people declined...

The Final Game I'll just quote this one, I can't explain it...:

The [Third] Doctor and the Master are revealed to be two aspects of the same person -- the Master representing the “id” (instinctual needs and desires) and the Doctor the “ego” (conscious perception of and adaptation to reality). The Master ultimately perishes in an explosion which saves the lives of the Doctor and others

The Krikketmen

Two million years ago, the inhabitants of the planet Krikkit built a race of androids called the Krikkitmen to wipe out all life in the universe. They were stopped by the Time Lords, who trapped Krikkit within a temporal prison. Now, however, a group of Krikkitmen which escaped the Time Lords' sentence are trying to reassemble the components of a key which can free Krikkit -- components of which happen to resemble elements of the Earth game of cricket, itself actually a reflection of the ancient war. The Doctor and Sarah stumble upon this plot when they see the Krikkitmen steal the Ashes during a test match at Lords.

Yeah. By Douglas Adams. In 1976, 6 years before LtUaE came out.

The Lost Legion, in which Sarah Jane is shot by aliens and dies, and doesn't bitch and moan her way back to Croyden.

The Son of Doctor Who The First Doctor encounters his evil time-travelling son, to whom he bears an uncanny physical resemblance. This was Hartnell's idea. He wanted more juicy roles on the show.

The Prison in Space The 1968 story about a planet where women are in charge and men downtrodden. The description is 47 kinds of WTF, but I'll end with the line that made me write this all up: "Jamie frees Zoe from her brainwashing by smacking her behind."

Yeah. I'll be over here in the corner. Boggling. There have been some embarrassing things on Dr. Who in the past 46 odd years. Some in the long ago, some last season. Apparently, we've been spared the worst.